Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Devils-Advocate Oct 23, 2009 3:04:35	Ok, so I have a campaign going on that I plan to run from first level all the way up to the epic destinies. One of the characters is a fey pact warlock, with the winter fey. I particularly like warlocks, and I like making their lives difficult (Muahahaha!!!) Anyway, when I saw the court of stars: king of frost from Dragon 374, I thought it would be the perfect basis for the underlying theme of the campaign: the thread that binds the various adventures together. I already know what the basic plot line is going to be, we've started with Keep on the Shadowfell, and I plan to take them through Winter of the Witch when they reach level 22. But I'm not sure what other adventures will work well. I'd like to have a lot of encounters with the fey because they're so much fun. I want to throw my adventurers through total psychological loops, so lots of RP, and the more batsh*t insane the better. I would really love some help on this, if anyone knows of any premade adventures that would fit the bill, or would be willing to help me brainstorm on some custom adventures.   Thanks in advance!
#2 divinepyre Oct 23, 2009 23:25:13	I don't actually play 4e, but the beauty of your goal is that because of the creatures you're working with, you don't need to just draw concepts from there. These are the Fair Folk you're talking about. They invented batsh*t insane. Look up old myths about them, turn them into adventure ideas: there are tons to choose from. This gets even more fun if you have players who are familiar with the classical ideas of fey: in a game I'm in, when we all found ourselves entering a fey area, the first thing one of our players said was "Don't accept any gifts, don't eat any of the food". He then rolled a knowledge check to make sure his character could relate the same information. Your characters are traveling through a forest (or tundra/snowfield/etc.) well away from any established civilization, and they come upon a grand party or castle that seems to offer shelter. Except because it's a fey stucture or event, just being in or near it is actually dangerous for the characters (if memory serves this was one of the founding points of 4th edition and the Feywild). Perhaps some fairies and fey have decided to blight a town with inclement or lethal weather (blizzards?) after having been insulted in some way by the townsfolk.  The PCs could try to defeat them, but what if the fey in question are too powerful to be beaten directly? Then you have to try and reason with something that doesn't share your quaint mortal notions of "morality" or maybe even "sanity". For extra fun with this idea, throw in sadistic choices: maybe the fey will only show mercy on the village if all the women, or all the men, or all the children are given up to them (for what purpose is up to you). Even better, maybe it's just one man/woman/child. Shrink that idea: suppose a player character offends a powerful fey somehow. The offense itself could be something completely harmless-seeming, but the fey is deeply offended. This lets you hop right into sadistic choice time again, or pitch a dungeon crawl at your group as the fey in question twists reality around them (or hell, just dumps them into the Feywild at random). Or, for real fun, take the horror-movie route. Little things that build over time. A character wakes up to find they're missing several items of no mechnical importance, but of personal significance: these items turn up in the packs of other party members, or maybe just the party rogue. They see frightening images in reflective surfaces out of their peripheral vision that aren't there when they look directly. A character finds themselves having exceedingly surreal dreams, only to find later that people or places they meet or find look eerily like their dreams. And then events start mirroring dreams too... For an example of how truly disturbing this can get, from 3.5's Heroes of Horror: "The PCs awaken after camping or resting for the night. One PC has bite wounds on her neck, arms, and legs, while another feels far too full to eat breakfast" Or from the same table: just imagine all the things you can do with fog.
#3 greygrendel Oct 24, 2009 12:57:19	Your characters are traveling through a forest (or tundra/snowfield/etc.) well away from any established civilization, and they come upon a grand party or castle that seems to offer shelter. Except because it's a fey stucture or event, just being in or near it is actually dangerous for the characters (if memory serves this was one of the founding points of 4th edition and the Feywild). I always like to do this when outside forces make the characters have to take up an offer of hospitality (bad weather, lost, being chased etc). If you have the resources, check Changeling: The Lost which is far more horror oriented than White Wolf's Changeling: The Dreaming.  Also find some of the more twisted folk tales and legends.  A lot of fairy tales have been "cleaned up" over the years, but sometimes you can find the darker original versions.  Never underestimate the tried and true Fae things.  The food, how time passes, rings of mushrooms, kidnapping children and replacing them with other "things", playing with emotions, helping people for no apparent reason but with weird "riders" on the agreements (we'll make swords for you, but you can never tell anyone its not you and you must always wear a blue top with green trim....) and that sort of thing.
#4 Lord_Ventnor Oct 24, 2009 14:07:35	Also, I got the feeling after reading the Prince of Frost article that this guy's one motive above all other motives is to make everyone feel miserable. "Soon everyone will feel my loss*" and all that jazz. Also, he's still obsessively looking for his love. Perhaps part of the Fey Pact Warlock's deal was to keep an eye out for her. Finally, take several fey monsters and give them cold powers and whatnot. He's the Lord of Winter, play it up! * A cookie to whomever gets that reference
#5 Devils-Advocate Oct 25, 2009 2:06:01	Many thanks, good friends! I'll have to do a little research, but this should be fun!